25 killed in air strikes, clashes with Daesh militants in Iraq

A total of 25 people were killed and 23 wounded on Sunday in clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants and air strikes by U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, security sources said.

In Iraq's western province of Anbar, an Iraqi army force clashed in the morning with IS militants near the town of Baghdadi, some 200 km northwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. It battle left seven soldiers killed and 12 others wounded, a provincial security source said on condition of anonymity.

In the same area, six roadside bombs planted by Daesh militants on the route leading to Ain al-Asad military airbase were detonated near an Iraqi army convoy, destroying four military vehicles, the source said without specifying whether the troops sustained any casualty.

Ain al-Asad military base is used by Iraqi military as well as hundreds of U.S. marines as a training and advising facility.

Separately, four soldiers were killed and two policemen wounded when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car near a military post outside Haditha, a town located near Baghdadi, the source said.

The troops also foiled another suicide car bomb attack on the same military post when they blew up the bomb with anti-tank guided missiles before reaching their post.

Moreover, the U.S.-led coalition bombarded a factory of car bombs at a village northwest of the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, destroying the building and killing at least six IS militants and wounding four others, the source said.

Also in the province, the Iraqi aircraft bombarded suspected IS positions in the areas of al-Sejir and Albu Alwan near the IS-held city of Fallujah, about 50 km west of Baghdad, leaving eight IS militants killed and five others injured, the source added.

In the northern central province of Salahudin, IS militants on late Saturday night set fire to three oil wells in Allas oilfield in Himreen rugged area in the eastern part of the province, billowing huge column of black smoke that covered large areas, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The small oil field of Allas and the nearby Ajil oil field used to be an important source of funding for the IS group, which extracted about 10,000 barrels per day and transported to others areas under its control.

The two oil fields were seized by IS militants following the June 10 blitzkrieg last year when the group seized large swathes of territories in predominantly Sunni provinces, but the oil fields were freed by the Iraqi forces in March.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since June 10 last year, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS.

Source: XINHUA